Filipino Folk Music

The traditional music of the Philippines, like the folk music of other countries, reflects the life of common, mostly rural Filipino. Like its counterparts in Asia, a lot of traditional songs from the Philippines have a strong connection with nature. However, much of it employs the diatonic scale rather than the "more Asian" pentatonic scale.

Traditional Filipino music is reflective of the country's history as a melting pot of different cultures. Among the dominant cultural strains noticeable today are Hispano-Mexican, American and to some extent Chinese, Indian and Islamic. It is thus difficult to strictly classify the whole corpus of Philippine music as either Western or Eastern.
A frequently used system is to classify it according to ethno-linguistic or cultural divisions: for example, traditional Tagalog music, which is somewhat more Hispanic in flavour, differs from Ifugao music and Maranao kulintang music.

After vocal music, dance music is the next most important form of traditional Philippine music. As mentioned above, the best form of preserved music are those with lyrics, and this is also true for music intended to accompany a dance. According to Francisca Reyes-Aquino, known for her voluminous collection of folk dances, people watching the dance sing the songs in the same way that cheerers chant in a game. This is very evident especially in songs where interjections Ay!, Aruy-Aruy!, Uy! and Hmp! are present, such as Paru-parong Bukid.
Music falling under this category may be classified as those belonging to Christianised Groups, Muslim Groups, and the other Ethnic Groups.